JP3095054B2 - Inkjet cutting plotter - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet type cutting plotter provided with a recording head for discharging ink droplets from nozzle openings and a cutting mechanism for cutting a recording medium into predetermined dimensions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet printing apparatus uses a recording head configured to pressurize ink in a pressure generating chamber with a piezoelectric vibrator or a heating element to discharge ink droplets from nozzle openings. It is necessary to take measures to prevent drying of the ink near the opening and a decrease in print quality due to the adhesion of dust. As one of such measures, every time the printing operation continues for a certain period of time, for example, 20 seconds, the recording head is moved to the capping device provided at the standby position of the non-printing area, and the print data is transferred from the nozzle opening to the print data. Regardless of the operation, a so-called flushing operation is performed in which ink droplets are ejected idly. If ink droplets are ejected regardless of printing at regular intervals in this manner, ink that does not eject during the printing period or ink whose viscosity increases at the nozzle opening with a small number of ejected ink droplets can be eliminated, The time until clogging can be extended.

In recent years, a cutting plotter for printing color labels commercially has been developed utilizing the high color printing performance of an ink jet recording head.

[0004]

Since such a commercial print medium is wider than office paper, the print path of the carriage is long, and it takes time to move to the capping device for idle discharge. Therefore, there is a problem that a printing speed is extremely reduced and a commercially available device cannot be realized if the idle ejection operation similar to the desktop ink jet printer is followed. The present invention has been made in view of such a problem,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cutting plotter capable of improving the printing speed on a large-sized recording medium without interrupting the printing for the idle discharge operation.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a carriage for reciprocating in the width direction of a recording medium, an ink jet recording head for discharging ink droplets, and a recording medium having a width of the recording medium. A cutting mechanism that cuts out a predetermined area by reciprocating in a direction, and a paper feeding mechanism that reciprocates a recording medium in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage. Means for determining a discharge area, means for determining the timing of idle discharge, and performing idle discharge on the recording head when the carriage is moving in the idle discharge area after the point where idle discharge is required. Control means for causing

[0006]

According to the present invention, when it is necessary to perform idle discharge to the print head, the print head is moved to a blank portion that is unnecessary as a label in a printing pass without moving the print head to the capping device. To perform idle discharge.

[0007]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a carriage, which is rotatably supported by a frame 2 and is attached to a shaft of a platen 5 by a rod screw 4 rotated by a motor 3. It is configured to reciprocate in parallel.

A recording head 6 for ejecting black ink, yellow, cyan and magenta inks is provided on the side of the carriage 1 opposite to the platen. On the upper surface, black ink, yellow, cyan and magenta are applied to the recording head 6. The ink cartridge 7 containing the color ink is detachably provided.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a platen also serving as a paper feed mechanism, which is driven by a motor 10 so that the recording medium can reciprocate in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the carriage 1 in cooperation with the pressing roller 9.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a cutter for cutting a recording medium into a predetermined shape. In this embodiment, the cutter is attached to the carriage 1 and surrounds one pattern based on data indicating a cutting area output from the host. The cutter is moved relatively to the recording medium to make a cut or to cut out the entire mount. Reference numeral 12 in the drawing indicates a capping device arranged outside the printing area.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a driving device for controlling the printing mechanism according to the present invention. The receiving buffer 20 stores print data from a host (not shown), and a bit map for developing the print data into a bit map image. Generation means 2
1 and a printing mechanism as a plotter including a printing control unit 22 for ejecting ink droplets from the recording head 6 while driving the carriage 1 and the platen 5.

A cutting area storage means 23 for storing cutting area data output from the host, and a cutter driving means 24 for bringing the cutter 11 into and out of contact with a recording medium, are cut by a carriage driving means 25 and a platen driving means 26. A cutting mechanism for relatively moving the cutter 11 and the recording medium based on the data of the cutting area in the area storage means 23 and making a cut so as to match the cut area is provided.

Numeral 30 denotes idle discharge control means, which is a feature of the present invention. Based on data from an idle discharge area determining means 31 described later, regardless of print data from the recording head 6, the timing means 32 sets a predetermined time. At the timing of timing, ink droplets are ejected from all nozzle openings of the recording head 6, and the timing means 32 is reset after idle ejection.

Numeral 31 denotes the above-mentioned empty discharge area judging means, which is based on the cutting line (C in FIG. 3) defined by the data in the cut area storage means 23 and which is outside the area (L) which becomes a label by cutting out. An area (N), a so-called margin, is determined, and the coordinates of the area N are output to the idle ejection control means 30.

The idle discharge control means 30 moves the recording head 6 to the capping device 12 at the time of idle discharge by a switch 33 which can be operated externally, or by a command from the host so that it can be used both as a normal plotter and for printing. There is also provided a control mode for performing idle discharge here.

In this embodiment, when the print data is input, the clocking means 32 executes a reset operation and then starts clocking. When the print data is developed into bitmap data and printing is performed, the idle discharge control unit 30 determines the timing of the idle discharge by referring to the timing data of the timing unit 32.

When a predetermined amount of printing is performed and it becomes necessary to cause the recording head 6 to perform idle discharge, the time counting means 32 outputs a signal after time-up. Empty discharge control means 30
Receives the signal from the timer 32 and moves to the non-printing area of the recording medium, that is, the area N which becomes unnecessary when the recording head 6 cuts out the label, based on the data of the idle ejection area determining means 31. At this point, a signal is output to the recording head driving means 27 to cause the recording head 6 to execute idle discharge.

As a result, the recording head 6 uses the interval between printing operations intermittently performed in the same pass to perform idle ejection to perform the pattern B1, B1 ‥‥ (FIG. 4A). The step of moving to the capping device 12 for idle discharge is not required, and therefore, the operation of restoring the ink discharge capability of the nozzle opening is performed without decreasing the printing speed. When the idle discharge is completed, the idle discharge control means 30
Resets the timer 32 and restarts the clock again.

When predetermined printing is completed in this way,
The recording medium is returned to the initial position by the platen 5, the carriage 1 and the platen 5 are driven based on the data in the cut area storage means 23, and the cutter 11 is relatively moved so as to coincide with the cutting line C, so that the label is printed. cut.
As a result, patterns B1 and B1 formed by idle discharge
The area of ‥‥ is separated from the label, and there is no problem at the stage of becoming the label.

When the recording head 6 is capable of color printing, the ejection timing of the patterns B1, B1 # formed by the idle ejection is controlled so that ink of each color is ejected at the same point. Then, it is formed as a composite black, or formed as a colored pattern by controlling the ejection timing so as to eject ink droplets to different positions for each ink.

In the above-described embodiment, the blank ejection is performed in the blank area interposed between the areas to be cut out as labels. However, as shown in FIG. Alternatively, the idle discharge pattern B2 may be formed.

In the above-described embodiment, the idle discharge is performed linearly. However, as shown in FIG. 4C, a pattern B3 similar to the cutting line near the outside of the cutting line C or Further, in addition to the pattern B4 similar to the cutting line as shown in FIG. 4D, a linear pattern B5 may be formed on the passing line of the nozzle opening which cannot be discharged by this pattern. Good. Such an idle discharge pattern can be easily generated based on the determination result of the idle discharge area determination unit 31.

Further, when there is a margin portion having a relatively large area, a pattern for ejecting a plurality of ink droplets from each nozzle of the recording head may be printed as shown in FIG. Good. As such a pattern, as shown in FIG. 5, a pattern having dots at least at positions corresponding to all the nozzle openings of the recording head and discharging a plurality of, for example, three ink droplets from the nozzle openings at each position. It is preferable that the idle discharge control means 30 and the storage means are provided and stored in advance in these.

By the way, such a plotter is capable of printing on a large-sized recording medium such as a poster. Therefore, when normal printing is designated from the switch 33 or the host, the idle discharge control means causes the printing press time to become a predetermined time. Continuous timing means 32
When the signal is output from the controller, the recording head 6 is moved to the capping device 12, and the capping device 12 performs idle discharge. This makes it possible to recover the ink droplet ejection ability of the recording head 6 without soiling the printed matter.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the label paper is cut after printing has been described.
The same can be applied by inputting data of a print area or a non-print area on a label sheet.

In the above-described embodiment, an example is described in which a cartridge is mounted on a carriage. However, the present invention is applied to a type in which ink is supplied to a recording head by a tube from an ink tank installed in a box. Obviously, the same effect is obtained even when the above-mentioned operation is performed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the cutting mechanism is attached to the carriage, but it is apparent that the present invention can be applied to a type in which the cutting mechanism is moved by an independent mechanism.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, there are provided a means for determining an idle discharge area based on cutting pattern data, a means for determining the timing of idle discharge, and a method for determining whether or not idle discharge is required. Control means for causing the print head to perform idle discharge while the carriage is moving in the idle discharge area, so that even when idle discharge to the ink recording head becomes necessary, the recording head can be capped. Without causing the blank to be ejected in a blank portion that is not required as a label in a printing pass, and the printing speed can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a cutting plotter according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a control device of the above device.

FIG. 3 shows a pattern printed by a cutting plotter,
It is a figure showing the relation of a cutting area.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a blank discharge area.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing one embodiment of a pattern suitable for idle discharge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carriage 3 Motor for driving a carriage 5 Platen 6 Recording head 9 Holding roller 10 Motor for driving a platen 11 Cutting mechanism 12 Capping device

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] A carriage that reciprocates in the width direction of the recording medium; an ink jet recording head that ejects ink droplets; a cutting mechanism that reciprocates in the width direction of the recording medium to cut out a predetermined area; An ink jet type cutting plotter having a paper feed mechanism for reciprocating in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage, wherein a means for determining an empty discharge area based on the cutting pattern data; An ink jet cutting plotter comprising: a control unit for causing the recording head to execute idle discharge when the carriage is moving in the idle discharge area after the point at which idle discharge is required. 2. The ink-jet cutting plotter according to claim 1, wherein the idle discharge area is on the medium near the outer periphery of a printed material. 3. The ink-jet cutting plotter according to claim 1, wherein said means for judging the empty ejection area generates an empty ejection pattern based on the cutting pattern data so as to have a shape similar to the cutting pattern. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the means for determining the empty discharge area is provided for a nozzle opening that does not match the cutting pattern.
The inkjet cutting plotter according to claim 3, wherein another pattern is generated to perform idle discharge. 5. The ink jet cutting plotter according to claim 1, wherein the timing of idle discharge is controlled so that idle discharge from the recording head forms the same dot. 6. The inkjet cutting plotter according to claim 1, wherein the timing of idle discharge is controlled so that idle discharge from the recording head forms different dots. 7. An ink-jet cutting plotter according to claim 1, wherein said control means prepares pattern data for idle discharge in advance. 8. The control means can switch between a label printing mode and a normal printing mode in response to an external signal. When normal printing is selected, the carriage is moved to the capping device to perform idle discharge. Claim 1 to be executed
The inkjet type cutting plotter according to 1.